‘Star Wars’ Signals: ‘Rogue One’ Sets Date for Brand New Trailer

Welcome to our weekly Star Wars roundup! With Disney ramping up the franchise on all cylinders, there’s tons of exciting stuff in the way of news, rumors, and clips. We’ve picked out the best Star Wars stories the internet has to offer, bringing you everything you need to know about the world’s favorite sci-fi series.

Congratulations everyone: We’ve officially reached peak spoiler culture. In a recent workout video, fans saw Daisy Ridley wearing her hair in a pillowcase, apparently in an effort to “protect (her) REY HAIRSTYLE from Instagram’s gaze.” What exactly a freaking hairstyle could possibly reveal about Episode VIII is beyond us, but it’s worth noting that we as fans are equally as responsible for this level of secrecy as anybody.

The internet (ourselves included) has a tendency to take even the smallest details, and overanalyze them into oblivion. This typically occurs when little other tangible info is readily available, which just so happens to be exactly where we are with Episode VIII. We say just shave the whole damn head and be done with it, but that’s just our own humble opinion. For now, we’re left to bask in the glory that is the granular spoiler analyzing the internet has narrowed down to an art form in recent years. Viva la spoilers, hair-related or otherwise.

2. Rogue One will unveil an extended trailer next week

Jyn Erso in Rogue One | Source: Lucasfilm

Speaking of potential spoilers, it’s been a while since we’ve heard from Rogue One in the realm of trailers. The first teaser debuted way back in April, netting almost 40 million views and launching the fandom into a fervor over a host of new characters. On July 15, we’ll get a full-length extended trailer, with a promised runtime of three minutes (the first teaser was two minutes long). It’ll debut during ABC’s airing of the Force Awakens documentary currently available on the film’s Blu-ray/DVD, so set those DVRs now.

The LEGO universe has a long tradition of companion Star Wars video games, aimed largely at younger audiences, while still possessing enough to also stay relevant to the older demographic. Early reviews for the Force Awakens iteration of LEGO’s video game empire point to another rousing success. Over at Nerdist, they’ve dubbed it “masterfully built,” while calling it “one hell of a ride” throughout. IGN’s four-star review is similarly glowing, pointing toward “an adaption worthy of its incredible source material.” There’s no shortage of larger-scale Star Wars video games on the docket right now, but for anyone who prefers simplicity, this is the way to go.

4. How Rebels will play a role in the Star Wars movie-verse

Season 2 of Star Wars: Rebels | Source: Disney XD

Much like the Clone Wars animated series, Star Wars: Rebels has quickly made itself into an integral part of the expanded universe of the franchise. Season 2 especially kicked things into high gear, giving us a healthy share of Darth Vader, Darth Maul, and tons of hints at future connections to the Star Wars movies. A recent interview with showrunner Simon Kinberg teases at even more from the series, talking about the need “to balance the two different things, like the original cast from the first season with ‘Clone Wars,’ with characters from the original movies, and maybe even feeding into future movies.”

It certainly makes a lot of sense to tie Rebels into the upcoming films. It already takes place right before the events of Rogue One,and with Han Solo set in a similar era in the Star Wars timeline, there’s tons of potential for crossover. Still though, Lucasfilm has a history of keeping its animated series decidedly separate from the movies, making any such move unprecedented in the franchise’s history.